Human rights in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia has detained thousands of people for up to a decade without trial, Human Rights Watch said on May 6, slamming the country's powerful crown prince for the "arbitrary detentions."

The lawyer of two Saudi Arabian sisters in Turkey has been fighting to prevent the women from being extradited to their own country, saying they will face violence if they return.

Saudi Arabia on Nov. 28 executed six Yemeni men convicted of murder and robbery and a Saudi man for smuggling drugs, the interior ministry said.

King Salman has appointed or promoted 56 judges, Saudi Arabia’s state news agency SPA reported yesterday, a step coinciding with an anti-corruption crackdown in the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia's new crown prince hopes to transform the kingdom and modernize society, but the planned execution of 14 Shiite protesters charged with violence against security forces suggests the government's handling of sectarian tensions and unrest remains unchanged.

Turkish artist Bedri Baykam will hold a press conference to protest Saudi Arabia's recent decision to sentence Palestinian poet Ashraf Fayadh to death.

Baykam, the president of the International Art Association, will hold a press conference at Piramid Sanat in Istanbul's central Taksim neighborhood at 11:30 a.m. on Dec. 7 to raise awareness about the impending execution.

Saudi Arabia on Aug. 26 executed three of its citizens for murder and a Syrian convicted of drugs smuggling, a day after Amnesty International urged a moratorium on rising executions in the conservative kingdom.

Saudi Arabia has executed at least 175 people over the past 12 months, on average one person every two days, according to a report released Aug. 25 by Amnesty International.

Saudi Arabia on Nov. 20 beheaded a Turkish man convicted of drug trafficking, the interior ministry said, in the latest execution in the ultra-conservative Gulf kingdom.

Ali Ağırdaş had been convicted of receiving a "large amount of drugs" and was executed in the Saudi capital Riyadh, the ministry said in a statement.